Sweat it out or rest?

Winters almost here and with it will come the colds and flus.
If you are unlucky enough to catch the dreaded winter bugs, just how should you handle exercising. 

Should you sweat it out or not?

The answer is NO

Whether or not you get sick simply comes down to how strong your immune system is.

When we do get sick our immune system is down and fighting a battle for us.
Think of it as our army going to war for us
When we exercise, we naturally suppress our immune system which can last for a number of hours after training.
So, the theory of “I will sweat it” really isn’t an accurate theory at all. 

By training when you are sick all you will achieve and do is suppress your immune system even more which is only going to delay the time it takes to get better.

The key is to build a super strong immune system in the first place.

Here are four things which play a large part in ensuring your immune system is strong in the first place to compliment your training

1️⃣ Refuel properly:
Post training is the most susceptible time for illness and infection to occur.
This is why it is important to get the basics down pat after every training session.
The most important thing here is to get immune enhancing proteins in.  A whey protein isolate is a good option here as they are made up of lots of amino acids including glutamine which power immune function.

2️⃣ Build muscle:
Muscle is the main reservoir for proteins that are used to meet the demands of the body. So the more muscle you have/can maintain the better of we are and the stronger our immune system will be. Ever wonder why people tend to get sicker as they get older? It’s because they start to lose their muscle mass – weight training will help prevent this.

3️⃣ Training volume:
Keep training volume low when you are unwell, before adding any exercise review what you are currently doing and ask 3 three things
– can I work harder in my sessions?
– am I refueling my body after each session properly?
– is the other 97% of my day (food, sleep, stress etc) down pat?
if you answer yes, yes and yes then yes you may increase exercise. If it’s no to even one you need to fix what you are doing first.

4️⃣ Sleep:
Sleep is when recovery happens the quickest. The more we train the better quality sleep we need on a regular basis. Your nutrition can be great and training down pat but if you live on a few hours sleep a night your results will take a pounding. Strive to get a little extra sleep each night 

If you do get hit with the cold and flu what’s best to do?
  • Rest
  • Increase fluid intake (I know you won’t feel like it)
  • Increase food compliancy (junk food even though you will feel like it will simply slow the recovery process)
  • Vit c, zinc/mag and consider glutamine if you have it 
Focus on non-training areas of your health and fitness journey while you ride it out
Fingers crossed for you all to have a healthy strong active winter